Mary C. WRD 104/Rozzell 27 October 2010 Research Paper The Attack of Facebook: the negative effects it has on its users In 2004 Mark Zuckerberg created a social network called Facebook that would affect the lives of millions. A social network is defined according to Danah M.Boyd, a PhD candidate in the School of Information at the University of California-Berkeley and author of Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship as a “web-based service that allows individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system” (Boyd).

Facebook, however, goes above and beyond your average social network. So it is not a surprise to know that as of 2010 “half a billion people worldwide use Facebook—more than three times the number of Twitter users, the second-most-popular social networking site” (Clemmitt). Facebook consists of constant statuses such as: Janet Johnson: Good morning facebook…aaaaaah what a crazy night…i had a blast with my bestie Shana TooSexy4ya Smith… even though she was a mess. Smh.I still luv her tho =) It allows also its users to add or block “friends”, join groups, ‘like’ comments, pictures, statuses, and statements, instant message friends for quick communication, play games that get posted on a user’s wall, and so much more. Facebook has redefined social networking: schools have used it to communicate important events to students, employers have used it as a way to post job listings, and it has connected people from all over the world. Yet as wonderful as Facebook may seem it comes with negative effects.

In the “The Facebook: Discover the Connection,” written by Kyle Hanagami, he states that these effects include addiction, procrastination, a decrease in face-to-face communication, stalking, invasion of privacy, legal issues, and even [the rare] suicide (Hanagami). Clearly there are many draw backs and benefits to Facebook. It is a great social networking site but also a site that can bring many problems to one’s life.

When used occasionally and appropriately it works, but when used obsessively and improperly Facebook becomes a problem.To begin with, even though there are many negative effects of Facebook there are still some benefits to using the social network. One of the benefits is connecting long-lost friends.

A user can do a search for old friends from childhood or whenever and reconnect with them. If they live in the same area they could potentially get together and catch up. Another connection Facebook has is finding family members.

Not just distant relatives but there have been cases where Amber Alerts were put on via Facebook and were successful. One of the reasons Facebook was created, other than connecting people, was for people to go on for their own pleasure.User’s need to have control over their time spent on Facebook so things like addiction and procrastination does not occur. There have not been any studies stating that Facebook is addicting and causes people to procrastinate.

Therefore, people who stay on Facebook all day can only blame themselves and not Facebook. Although there are many issues regarding privacy on Facebook, it still can be considered private. People are in charge of what goes on their page.

They make the choice to put personal information on the internet; the makers of Facebook do not force its users to put anything up.But with all that being said, the negative effects out-weigh the positive effects of Facebook. I know when I first open up a window for Internet Explore it is not to go on Facebook.

Sometimes I will need to go on Google. Other times I will need to check my email. But almost always after I click into the address bar my fingers so effortlessly type in Facebook.

com. There it is, the home page of Facebook—the site I did not plan on going on but ended up there anyways. 4 notifications, 1 new message, and 2 friend requests later I find myself hooked.Hours have passed and still Facebook remains open. According to a recent poll done this past June, 22. 7% of Americans spend their time on social networks. This is about a 6.

9% increase since last year (Clemmitt), and 40% of Facebook users are from the United States alone (Richard). It is addicting—that’s why when the Quit Facebook Day came on May 31st “only 37,000 of Facebook’s then nearly 500 million members” actually refrained from signing on that day (Clemmitt). Its users are finding it a necessity to go on at least once every day if not several.Facebook has taken over millions of people’s lives. Time has been wasted and “the company [Facebook] reports that its users spend 500 billion minutes online with Facebook every month” (Richard).

According to Dr. CK Lin, director of CoGi, “researchers at Ohio State University” conducted a study that claimed “students who use Facebook on a daily basis do worse in school” (Lin). Instead of doing homework or studying, students spend their time browsing on Facebook and updating statuses. Papers get put off and group projects get interrupted by the constant breaks to check Facebook.Along with effecting academics, the addiction of Facebook has put a strain on social relationships. It can be justified with the article “The meaning of Facebook; Is the addictive social networking website making us more exhibitionist, narcissistic, extroverted or individualistic? All of the above, writes Richard A.

Posner” by Richard Posner that: “They [teenagers] are said to be abandoning “best friends” in favour of having looser relations with more friends, a trend surely accelerated by Facebook — if you spend a lot of “face time” with just one or two of your “friends,” you will have no time for the other 398 or 399” (Richard).Facebook is causing a decrease in face-to-face interaction and communication. It is like people have become so accustomed to communicating via Facebook that they do not know how to interact with people in person. As Posner brings up Facebook users would rather have these internet “friendships” with a large number of people over real face-to-face friendships with maybe one or two people. According to Scott Caplan, an associate professor of communication at the University of Deleware: “some people prefer the online social world to the face-to-face world. People like this “tend to be more depressed, more lonely and have lower social skills,” to begin with, and the opportunities the Internet provides to mingle with others exclusively online rather than in real life can worsen those problems and further erode their offline relationships” (Clemmitt).

So not only are Facebook users lowering their social skills but they are putting themselves in bad predicaments. They are more likely to be depressed and feel lonely which will also cause them to interact with real people even less.Along with a decrease in face-to-face interaction, Facebook has caused many problems with people’s relationships—both with couples and friends. Certain wall posts or relationship statuses become problematic for some users. One case is where a girlfriend sees posts from another girl on her boyfriend’s wall and they start arguing over that.

Another case is where friends will get into an argument and then post statuses towards each other without putting each others’ names. Facebook has caused a lot of drama between people and has even ruined relationships.It is sad to think that a social network created to connect people actually breaks them apart.

Facebook has put a strain on social relationships and that is why its use should be reduced significantly. People are paying too much attention to each others’ walls, who is talking to who, pictures from the night out, and it is causing nothing but problems. Strains on relationships are not the only negative effects of Facebook. Privacy issues also have affected millions over that last couple of years. When people sign up for Facebook they forget that what they put on the internet can be seen by everyone.In Clemmitt’s article, “Social Networking,” she tells us that sometimes personal information such as full names, e-mail addresses, and full birthdays is all it takes for someone to steal your identity (Clemmitt).

Along with identity theft, the other privacy issue that has come about due to Facebook is the legal actions taken due to wall posts, pictures, or videos. One account was where a student in Pembroke Pines, Florida wrote on her wall about her teacher stating, “one of the worst teachers I’ve ever had” and invited her friends to share their dislike of the teacher on her page (Clemmitt).For this the student was suspended for three days and pulled out of her honor classes. Even though that one post was made outside of school and did not harm anyone consequences where taken into place. Facebook is like a trap—because it is on the internet that means that anyone can view it. In a perfect world, users should be able to write and post what they want on their own page without having to deal with getting in trouble.

But because there is a fine line as to what is private on Facebook, users are being punished.According to Cliff Lampe, an assistant professor of telecommunications, information studies, and media at Michigan State University, “Everybody I work with at Facebook has privacy as a top concern” (Clemmitt). Yet there still are major issues regarding privacy on Facebook. That’s why advertisers have access to Facebook users’ stored information. Richard Posner reminds us that Facebook uses the revenues from advertisers to finance its network. Advertising on Facebook has become Google’s competition.This is “because facebook has more information about its users from their Facebook activities than Google has about its users from their Google clicks” (Richard).

This in all is invading users’ privacy because now they are getting unwanted advertisements just because of what’s on their page. Facebook needs to be used less often by its users because there are too many negative effects resulting from it. Due to the increase in popularity, Facebook has become something that almost every teenager has.Sadly though, it has caused many negative effects on its users because of its overuse. These effects include addiction, procrastination, decrease in face-to-face communication, and privacy issues. Although Facebook comes with some benefits because of the numerous negative effects it has on its users, it should be used significantly less.

Janet Johnson: Oh my gosh what a long night…im done with facebook its caused nothing but problems…drama drama drama yet I cant get off of it…hmmmm time to rethink how I use my time on the internet {[*jAnEttt*]}

Author: Brandon Johnson

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